Rob Cohen Movies
One of the 1970s' "baby moguls,"
Rob Cohen built a thriving career as a producer in the 1970s and 1980s. After a false start directing features in the early '80s,
Cohen gave up producing in the 1990s to concentrate full time on directing, finally scoring his first bona-fide hit with
The Fast and the Furious (2001).
Raised in New York's Hudson River Valley,
Cohen knew he wanted to make movies by junior high school. Transferring to Harvard University in the late '60s,
Cohen shot a recruiting film for Harvard's admissions office before he graduated in 1971.
Cohen immediately headed to Los Angeles to work for a producer, but soon found himself unemployed when the producer went bankrupt. After a janitorial stint at an animal hospital,
Cohen became a reader for then-agent
Mike Medavoy. Quickly distinguishing himself by recommending the script for
The Sting (1973) to his boss,
Cohen moved on to 20th Century Fox Television, where he earned the title Director of TV Movies. Impressed by
Cohen's accomplishments in such short time, record impresario
Berry Gordy hired the 24-year-old
Cohen in 1973 to be the executive vice president of Motown's nascent motion picture division. While at Motown,
Cohen produced the
Diana Ross soaper
Mahogany (1975) and the disco cash-in
Thank God It's Friday (1978), as well as
John Badham's
Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings (1976), a comedy about 1930s Negro League baseball. After pulling off the complicated task of producing the movie version of Broadway's The Wiz (1978),
Cohen left Motown to form his own production company. Signing a pact with United Artists,
Cohen's production deal morphed into directing his first film, the Harvard-set comedy
A Small Circle of Friends (1980). Though
A Small Circle of Friends bombed,
Cohen directed a second feature comedy,
Scandalous (1984); it also bombed. Chastened,
Cohen returned to producing as the head of the Taft-Barish Company in the mid-'80s. Though not all hits,
Cohen's 1980s track record was distinguished by its star power, including
Arnold Schwarzenegger as
The Running Man (1987),
Jack Nicholson and
Meryl Streep in
Ironweed (1987),
Nicholson bedeviling
Michelle Pfeiffer,
Susan Sarandon, and
Cher in
The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and TV luminary
Michael J. Fox's first dramatic turn, in
Light of Day (1987).
Cohen also sharpened his skills as a director, helming episodes of several series including the quintessential 1980s shows Miami Vice and thirtysomething.
Exiting Taft-Barish in 1987,
Cohen set up a production company with
Badham, producing the
Mel Gibson-
Goldie Hawn vehicle
Bird on a Wire (1990), and the
James Woods-
Michael J. Fox action-comedy
The Hard Way (1991).
Cohen also handled the action sequences as
Badham's second-unit director on
The Hard Way. After parting ways with
Badham in 1992,
Cohen returned to movie directing with the biopic
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993). Written by
Cohen as well,
Dragon earned far better notices than
Cohen's prior features and helped energize
Lauren Holly's career. Turning next to fantasy and cutting-edge special effects,
Cohen directed the summer fable
Dragonheart (1996). Though
Dragonheart's titular beast Drago was the first major movie "character" to be completely digital, and also spoke in the dulcet tones of
Sean Connery,
Dragonheart failed to muster up blockbuster box office.
Daylight (1996), a competent
Sylvester Stallone action picture shot in a scale replica of a Hudson River tunnel, also became a relative disappointment.
Cohen's HBO docudrama
The Rat Pack (1998), however, was a
succès d'estime, earning a Director's Guild nod for
Cohen and numerous Emmy nominations. After his teen-oriented Ivy League thriller
The Skulls (2000) tanked,
Cohen managed to buck Hollywood's ageism and become a hot action director at age 52 with the sleeper hit
The Fast and the Furious (2001). Centering on drag racing and starring up-and-comers
Vin Diesel and
Paul Walker,
The Fast and the Furious drew throngs of summer moviegoers with its stylish, high-adrenaline car-chase sequences. Hoping to repeat their success,
Cohen and
Diesel re-teamed for the summer espionage action flick
XXX (2002). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

- 2012
-

- 2012
-

- 2012
- PG13
- Add Alex Cross to Queue
Add Alex Cross to top of Queue
A lawman is torn between justice and personal vengeance in this action drama. Alex Cross (Tyler Perry) is a detective and forensic psychologist who works for the Detroit Police Department with his partner Tommy Kane (Edward Burns) and promising rookie Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols). While Cross is dedicated to his work, he's just as committed to his home life, and is excited to learn he and his wife Maria (Carmen Ejogo) will be welcoming a third child. When a wealthy and well-connected woman is found dead and partially dismembered in her mansion, police chief Richard Brookwell (John C. McGinley) assigns Cross and his team to the case, and they soon find themselves playing a cat and mouse game with a nameless psychotic (Matthew Fox) with a taste for torture and a grudge against some of the Motor City's wealthiest citizens. Clues point to French financier Leon Mercier (Jean Reno) as the killer's ultimate victim, but Cross and his team suspect Mercier has a secret he isn't willing to share, and the case becomes a personal obsession for Cross when the maniac first kills Monica and then Maria. Also starring Giancarlo Esposito and Cicely Tyson, Alex Cross marked Tyler Perry's debut as an action hero, playing the protagonist of James Patterson's series of best-selling crime novels; Cross was previously played on screen by Morgan Freeman in the films Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Tyler Perry

- 2010
-
When the troubled son of a high-profile governor is placed briefly behind bars as part of the Scared Straight crime-prevention program and subsequently taken hostage during a violent prison riot, the resourceful teen joins forces with a group of other street kids and a sympathetic convict (Nicolas Cage) in order to escape his captors and take back control of the chaotic correctional institution in this tense jailhouse thriller from horror legend John Carpenter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Read More

- 2008
- PG13
- Add The Love Guru to Queue
Add The Love Guru to top of Queue
Austin Powers trilogy star Mike Myers collaborates with writer Graham Gordy for this comedy concerning a self-help guru named Pitka (Myers) who devotes his life to unknotting the romantic entanglements of troubled couples. As a young child, Pitka is abandoned at the gates of an ashram in India and taken in by kindly gurus. An American by birth, Pitka absorbs the lessons taught to him by his teachers and later returns to the United States to become a leading authority on spirituality and self-help. While Pitka's methods are decidedly unorthodox, they may be the only means of ensuring that the Toronto Maple Leafs win the coveted Stanley Cup. Maple Leafs star Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) is in trouble. His estranged wife has recently begun dating L.A. Kings star Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake) in a vengeful effort to send her husband's career into a tailspin, and when Roanoke starts to falter on the ice, the whole team starts to suffer. As their visions of leading the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup are quickly going up in flames, team owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) and Coach Cherkov (Verne Troyer) enlist the aid of the world's best-known relationship expert in restoring the peace between Roanoke and his wife, and getting their team back on track to the championships. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, (more)

- 2008
- PG13
- Add The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to Queue
Add The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to top of Queue
The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen continues the tale set into motion by director Stephen Sommers with this globe-trotting adventure that finds explorer Rick O'Connell and son attempting to thwart a resurrected emperor's (Jet Li) plan to enslave the entire human race. It's been 2,000 years since China's merciless Emperor Han and his formidable army were entombed in terra cotta clay by a double-dealing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh), but now, after centuries in suspended animation, an ancient curse is about to be broken. Thanks to his childhood adventures alongside father Rick (Brendan Fraser) and mother Evelyn (Maria Bello), dashing young archeologist Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) is more than familiar with the power of the supernatural. After he is tricked into awakening the dreaded emperor from his eternal slumber, however, the frightened young adventurer is forced to seek out the wisdom of his parents -- both of whom have had their fair share of experience battling the legions of the undead. Should the fierce monarch prove capable of awakening his powerful terra cotta army, his diabolical plan for world domination will finally be set into motion. Of course, the one factor that this emperor mummy failed to consider while solidifying his power-mad plans was the O'Connells, and before this battle is over, the monstrous monarch will be forced to contend with the one family that isn't frightened by a few rickety reanimated corpses. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, (more)

- 2005
- PG13
- Add Stealth to Queue
Add Stealth to top of Queue
The latest innovation in high-tech defense hardware turns out to have a very dangerous mind of its own in this action thriller. Kara Wade (Jessica Biel), Henry Purcell (Jamie Foxx), and Ben Gannon (Josh Lucas) are three highly ranked U.S. Navy pilots who are part of a top-secret project involving the next generation of stealth fighter technology, the Talon Jet. Wade, Purcell, and Gannon are surprised when their commander, Captain George Cummings (Sam Shepard), introduces them to the new member of their team -- "Edi," an "extreme deep invader" developed as part of the "Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle" program. Utilizing the latest innovations in artificial intelligence, Edi is a computer-based flight controller that will take over the wingman's position in the team's formation, and while the pilots initially balk, Edi performs admirably in its first mission. However, after Edi is struck by lightning on a return trip, the computer's circuits and software begin to change in unexpected ways, and Edi not only begins to think for itself, it begins to violate direct orders. During a mission investigating the forces of a dangerous Chinese extremist, Edi starts an attack that could launch World War III, and it's up to Wade, Purcell, and Gannon to stop both Edi and its dangerous plan before it's too late. Stealth also stars Joe Morton and Richard Roxburgh. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, (more)

- 2005
-

- 2005
- PG13
- Add XXX: State of the Union to Queue
Add XXX: State of the Union to top of Queue
A new renegade fighter rises to defend the United States from an internal threat in this action thriller. Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) of the National Security Agency has successfully dealt with a number of threats to America's safety, but he faces a whole new challenge when he discovers a potent terrorist cell that has ties to the upper levels of the American military. Gibbons learns that George Deckert (Willem Dafoe), the secretary of defense, has been training a secret military faction to stage a coup against the United States by kidnapping and assassinating the president of the United States (Peter Strauss). Convinced there's no one he can trust within his circle of operatives, Gibbons turns to Darius Stone (Ice Cube), currently serving time in a maximum security penitentiary. Stone once served with Gibbons in the Army, and also took part in a mutiny against Deckert; despite his reckless side, Gibbons is certain Stone's fearless nature and peerless fighting skills make him the one man who can take on Deckert and his troops. XXX: State of the Union is the sequel to the 2002 hit XXX, though neither star Vin Diesel nor his character, Xander Cage, appear in this picture. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Ice Cube, Willem Dafoe, (more)

- 2004
-
- Add The Last Ride to Queue
Add The Last Ride to top of Queue
Inasmuch as the made-for-cable The Last Ride was assembled by the same folks responsible for such action films as The Fast and the Furious and XXX, one shouldn't be surprised that the picture is virtually one long thrill-packed car chase. Released from prison after three decades, modern-day outlaw Ronnie Purnell (Dennis Hopper) is determined to get even with Darryl Kurtz (Fred Ward), the cop who in 1974 put Ronnie away after a violent skirmish in which Ronnie's wife was killed. To this end, Purnell enlists the aid of his hero-worshipping grandson, Matthew (Chris Carmack), who brings along his sexy girlfriend (and ace auto mechanic) JJ Cruz (Nadine Velazquez). Wasting no time, Purnell revs up his beloved 1969 Pontiac GTO, in which he has the key to a safety deposit box containing damning evidence against Kurtz, and embarks on a spectacular crime-and-speed spree. Hoping to stop Purnell dead in his tracks is his own police officer son (and Matthew's father), Aaron Purnell (Will Patton), who had been raised by Kurtz after the arrest of his dad and the death of his mom. Described by one critic as "an 87-minute car commercial," The Last Ride originally aired June 2, 2004, on the USA cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Will Patton, (more)

- 2002
- PG13
- Add XXX to Queue
Add XXX to top of Queue
The director (Rob Cohen) and star (Vin Diesel) of the previous summer's hit The Fast and the Furious (2001) are reunited for this spy thriller billed as a next-generation James Bond adventure. Diesel stars as Xander Cage, a nihilist extreme sports enthusiast nicknamed "Triple X" because of a large tattoo covering his back and neck. Cage's illegal stunts and poor attitude (he's given to spouting dialogue such as, "Have you ever been punched in the face for talking too much?") land him in jail, where he's recruited/blackmailed into government service by the National Security Agency's Augustus Gibbons, who likes Cage for his skills and expendability. The new secret agent is assigned to infiltrate a Russian crime ring called Anarchy 99, whose access to biochemical weaponry is making the United States extremely nervous. With the help of some high-tech gadgets from weapons master Toby Lee Shavers (Michael Roof), Cage is able to make his way into Anarchy 99, where he targets the group's leader Yorgi (Marton Csokas) and falls for the organization's second-in-command, Yelena (Asia Argento). XXX (2002) is the first in a hoped-for franchise of sequels for the film's producer, Revolution Studios. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Vin Diesel, Asia Argento, (more)

- 2001
- PG13
- Add The Fast and the Furious to Queue
Add The Fast and the Furious to top of Queue
A magazine article about real-life car racing gangs for Vibe becomes this fast-paced automotive thriller from director Rob Cohen. Paul Walker stars as Brian O'Conner, a youthful FBI agent investigating a series of hijackings by going undercover with a street gang led by charismatic Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). Caught up in Toretto's world of gang conflict that is resolved in late-night car races, Spindler starts to sympathize with his chief suspect and falls in love with Toretto's younger sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). In the meantime, Spindler initially suspects the wrong gang of complicity in the crimes he's probing, while Toretto remains involved in a forbidden romance, à la Romeo and Juliet, with his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez). The Fast and the Furious co-stars Ted Levine, Rick Yune, and Matt Schulze. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, (more)

- 2001
- R
- Add Ritual to Queue
Add Ritual to top of Queue
An unemployed New York doctor with a suspended license and few prospects for the future travels to Jamaica to care for the ailing brother of a wealthy landowner, only to make a horrifying discovery regarding the ailing man in director Avi Nesher's contemporary re-imagining of Jacques Tourneur's I Walked with a Zombie. Dr. Alice Dodgson (Jennifer Grey) is an open-minded oncologist whose experiments with an unapproved drug have just cost her patient his life and found her license to practice medicine promptly revoked. Subsequently summoned to Jamaica by affluent American Paul Claybourne (Craig Sheffer), Dr. Dodgson is assigned the duty of caring for Claybourne's cancer-stricken brother, Wesley (Daniel Lapaine). Though Dr. Dodgson at first dismisses the local tales of zombies and possession as mere superstition while she cares for the increasingly despondent Wesley, her growing feelings for her patient soon bring her to the realization that Wesley is not suffering from cancer after all, but the powerful curse of a local witch doctor. Now, in order to save the man that she has come to love, Dr. Dodgson must uncover the secret behind the potentially fatal curse while facing off against a vicious voodoo queen with the power to destroy anyone and anything in her path. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Jennifer Grey, Craig Sheffer, (more)

- 2001
-

- 2000
- PG13
- Add The Skulls to Queue
Add The Skulls to top of Queue
In this suspense drama, a college student finds himself immersed in forces beyond his control. Born and raised in a working-class Connecticut community, Luke McNamara (Joshua Jackson) made it into an Ivy League college, where he's done quite well; his dream is to be accepted into Harvard Law School, but he knows that it will take more than a good report card to beat out the competition. When an upper-crust secret society called the Skulls asks Luke to join, he eagerly accepts, thinking that the club's connections will help him gain acceptance to Harvard. He enjoys the Skulls' luxurious lifestyle, but when his roommate, a journalism student, dies of an apparent suicide, he's convinced that something is wrong. The deeper Luke digs into the secrets of the Skulls, the more he's convinced that his friend's death was no suicide and that he's put himself in more danger than he imagined. The Skulls was the first starring vehicle for Joshua Jackson, who gained fame on the TV series Dawson's Creek; the supporting cast includes Paul Walker, Craig T. Nelson, Hill Harper, and William L. Petersen. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker, (more)

- 1998
- R
- Add The Rat Pack to Queue
Add The Rat Pack to top of Queue
Shot in 33 days, this $9.6 million biographical drama of behind-the-scenes interactions within the Rat Pack group of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the '60s, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicans (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister -- and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, the patriarch's interference angers Sinatra. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr. enters into an interracial liaison with May Britt (Megan Dodds), and the dynamics of the situation are visualized in an imaginative musical fantasy sequence in which Davis sees himself singing and dancing for an unresponsive line of white supremacists. Broadway's Savion Glover stepped in with the film's choreography. Substitute singers featured the voice of Michael Dees for Sinatra and Mantegna duplicating Dino. Also covered here are the events that led to the filming of Ocean's Eleven (1960). For an actual Rat Pack stage performance, see The Rat Pack Captured (1965). Filmed in LA, the TV movie premiered August 22, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Joe Mantegna, (more)

- 1996
- PG13
- Add Daylight to Queue
Add Daylight to top of Queue
Sylvestor Stallone comes to the rescue in this disaster/adventure picture. A truck containing dangerous chemicals explodes in the Holland Tunnel, trapping those New Yorkers not killed in the explosion. Authorities know there are survivors, but cannot figure out what to do to save them. Ruptured water mains and leaks in the tunnel itself, which is beneath the Hudson River, will cause it to fill with water in a few hours. Of all the colorful characters trapped there, only Roy Nord (Viggo Mortensen), a mountain climber, has any ideas about what to do, but he quickly dies while attempting to save the others. However, Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) is a former city Emergency Medical Services director who was in the area of the explosion, and he knows the tunnel's construction quirks. He quickly convinces city officials to let him wend his way through the tunnel's maze of exhaust fans to help the exhausted survivors confront the obstacles that await them. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, (more)

- 1996
- PG13
- Add Dragonheart to Queue
Add Dragonheart to top of Queue
A boy and his dragon unite to fight evil in this fantasy. Bowen (Dennis Quaid), a Knight of The Old Code in Medieval times, is summoned by Aislinn the Queen (Julie Christie) to the bedside of her son, Einon, who is also Bowen's student. Einon has been wounded and is near death; with his heart about to give out, Bowen calls upon Draco (voice of Sean Connery), the mightiest dragon in the land, asking for a sliver of his mighty heart so that the boy might survive. Draco makes Bowen pledge that when Enion grows to adulthood and becomes king, he will rule with fairness and compassion before the beast will donate a piece of his heart. Einon agrees to the pledge, but years later, the adult Einon (David Thewlis) has become a cruel despot, in no way good on his promises. Bowen, angry at Einon's betrayal, is convinced that the dragon is somehow responsible and goes on a spree, killing the mammoth reptiles at a fevered pace. However, when Bowen once again encounters Draco, the dragon convinces him that a dragon-slayer who has killed the last dragon also puts himself out of a job; Draco and Bowen work out a business arrangement, where the monster "attacks" villages and Bowen is paid to "kill" him. In time, however, Draco and Bowen realize that they must set aside their lucrative business in order to challenge the authority of the evil ruler. Draco the Dragon was the first fully-computer animated character to have a speaking part along side flesh and blood actors in a film; Sean Connery's recording sessions as the voice of Draco were recorded on video as well as audio tape, so that his facial expressions and mouth movements could be adapted to the character. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, (more)

- 1994
-
This made-for-television movie spawned several sequels and eventually an adventure TV-series of the same name. Russell Wong and Chi Moui Lo star as brothers Jian-Wa and Wago Chang, respectively, who escape from China's political unrest and take up in the United States. Both try and find new lives in the U.S., with Wago falling in with an organized crime gang and Jian-Wa pursuing a career in music. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
Read More

- 1994
-

- 1993
- PG13
- Add Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story to Queue
Add Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story to top of Queue
The brief but eventful life of actor and martial arts trailblazer Bruce Lee is portrayed in this drama, based on a biography written by his widow Linda Lee Caldwell. Lee is introduced to the study of martial arts as a child living in Hong Kong by his father (Ric Young); the father dreamed that a demonic armored dragon would take his son from him, and wanted young Bruce to be able to protect himself. Bruce continues his training as he grows to adulthood, and after the cocky teenaged Lee (Jason Scott Lee, no relation to Bruce) seriously injures a prominent British citizen while fighting a gang of troublemakers at a dance, he's sent to San Francisco. While working as a dishwasher, Bruce begins to study philosophy, and in time develops a personal martial arts discipline, Jeet Kune-Do, which blends Kung Fu fighting techniques with lessons gained from his philosophical research. Bruce decides to open a martial arts academy on the advice of his fiancée Linda (Lauren Holly); Linda and Bruce encounter resistance as a mixed-race couple, especially from Linda's mother Vivian (Michael Learned), and Bruce earns the enmity of traditional Chinese martial arts experts for his new style. But after a strong showing in several public tournaments, Bruce's fighting skill and charisma attracts the attention of TV producer Bill Krieger (Robert Wagner). Bruce is cast as Kato, the karate-trained sidekick on the series The Green Hornet, and while the show is short-lived in America, it's a huge success in Asia, leading to a series of films based around Bruce's remarkable fighting skills. Sadly, shortly before the release of the film that would make him a major screen star in the United States, Enter The Dragon, a mysterious brain disorder sends Lee into a coma that soon kills him. In a tragedy with eerie timing, Bruce Lee's real-life son Brandon Lee died shortly before this film was released, the result of an accidental shooting while completing the picture The Crow. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Jason Scott Lee, Lauren Holly, (more)

- 1991
- R
- Add The Hard Way to Queue
Add The Hard Way to top of Queue
Action film director John Badham bites the hand that feeds him in this action movie spoof that features ribbing of pretty-boy Hollywood action stars by Michael J. Fox and a parody of colorful, hair-trigger James Woods types by the man himself. Woods plays New York homicide detective John Moss, who is within an inch of closing in on a serial killer who calls himself The Party Crasher (Stephen Lang) because his specialty is shooting his victims in the middle of discos. Chasing The Party Crasher after his latest victim has been dispatched, Moss finds himself hanging onto the door of a speeding truck with The Party Crasher at the wheel. When Moss is thrown off the truck and nearly killed, The Party Crasher escapes, and Moss is taken off the case. Moss is given a new assignment --to tag around with Hollywood action film star Nick Lang (Michael J. Fox), the popular hero of the "Smoking Gun" movies. Lang spotted Moss on a television news show and thinks he would be the ideal cop to study for adding authenticity to an up-coming police action picture. Posing as Moss's rookie partner, Lang follows Moss everywhere, proceeding to spoil his pursuit of The Party Crasher and interfering with Moss's burgeoning affair with his girlfriend Susan (Anabella Sciorra). ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Michael J. Fox, James Woods, (more)

- 1990
- PG13
- Add Bird on a Wire to Queue
Add Bird on a Wire to top of Queue
The can't-miss teaming of Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn is squandered on a clumsy, illogical romantic melodrama. Running across her old boyfriend Gibson at a Wisconsin gas station, Hawn is astounded that he seems not to recognize her. How could she have known that Gibson was put into the Witness Relocation Program after testifying against a homicidal mob boss (say, don't they usually alter your appearance when they put you in that program?) Curious over Gibson's furtive behavior, Hawn unknowingly sets herself up as a target for the bad guys. The whole affairs culminates in an after-hours showdown at a zoo (a plot device vastly improved upon in the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Eraser). While Bird on a Wire admittedly has its moments of enjoyment, most of the film is on a par with Gibson's embarrassing, homophobic scene with a pair of epicine hairdressers. And whoever heard of the Chinatown section of Racine, Wisconsin? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Read More
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn, (more)